


We Forsaken Few

by NervousAliceCurious



Series: Poisonous Little World [9]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), The Mist - Stephen King
Genre: Monster In The Mist, Survival Attempt, ticking clock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: Are you sure the dead will stay down?
Series: Poisonous Little World [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1511495
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	We Forsaken Few

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for gore, and suicide missions, apologetic disrespect for dead bodies.
> 
> Flash back 2 is upon us.
> 
> Also, I'm nervous.

Teeth coming at me-

N-no! I couldn’t just die-

I threw up an arm between that mouth and my head.

White knives crunched right through my bone.

The shock of pure agony almost knocked me out…

My shoulder strained in its socket.

How much longer until it would snap!?

I tried to focus-

Extend my other arm palm out, I needed-

A vine-!

I couldn’t-think-!!

Pain erupting at my waist, as their pincers strained-

I kicked at their underside, I had to get-loose-!

Snarled at me, and tore-

My left leg went numb.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing:

The ivory-my hip…popped.

Out.

Chlorophyl gushing from the stab wound.

The cuts.

The bite marks…

The tear.

They spat out a mouthful of green and plant matter.

Roared in my face-

Razors dislodged, and I sucked in a breath.

More-more bleeding…

Foot steps, the sound of them growing further and further away.

. . .

_They’re just._

_They’re just…gonna let me go?_

_I mean…_

_I guess they’re not…a vegetarian…_

_I can’t…move._

_I don’t want…to die here!_

**Why bother?**

**You wouldn’t have anywhere to go anyway.**

_I don’t want to hear it._

**You know it’s the truth.**

The silhouette leaning over me.

“You’re…not real”.

Grip marks.

“You’re not real!!”

Dried-blood in her blonde hair.

“You’re not. You’re not real!!!”

I struggled to sit up, to dispel this illusion.

Never mind the feeling that I would tear myself in half!

I couldn’t let it stand-

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Then why didn’t you just do it yourself?”

Right in my ear, that whisper-

“Why did you send Matt off into the line of fire instead?”

Wet hands on my neck.

“If you’d just solved it yourself, I would still be here”.

“It’s…it’s not my fault-“

“Tim and that Idiot would still be alive-“

“I didn’t know. How could I have known-“

“The Exorsix would still be alive”.

“You don’t…know…”

_Stop…strangling…me…!_

“You get to live while we don’t?

Unfair!”

_Clawing…at…nothing…_

“That is so unfair”.

“It’s…not like…that-“

“Is it? Then why am I back again?”

“Leave me…ALONE!!”

I finally tore her grip.

Off.

But.

I tore…my throat…out…

*

. . .

_Am I still alive._

. . .

_I think so…_

_I certainly_ feel _alive enough…_

It wasn’t real.

I knew it all along…

_…How am I going to get up?_

_…I don’t want to_ give _up-_

_Do I…even have a choice?_

…

_I don’t…know._

_I can’t…think._

_I don’t…I don’t want to die._

_I don’t want to die-!_

Vines.

If I’m really affected by negative emotions I cannot use them.

For anything.

But make me desperate-

And they’ll _do_ anything.

Like…stitch me up…from the inside...out...

It hurt.

But it would buy me time.

_I_ don’t _want to die._

_I_ won’t.

*

I forced myself upright.

My limbs complained.

I didn’t listen.

Where to go from here.

_A good question._

At least I knew one thing:

There was no going back.

*

I walked blindly into the mist.

My left foot dragging behind slightly with every step.

_Everybody else who’s ever done so has died-_

_What makes you think you’ll do any better?_

It smelled like-

-!

The-

The lot-

Dried-by now…but…

. . .

GloZell’s crumpled green dress with no head.

Tim and Matt H. broken and battered over the hood of two adjacent cars.

Jesse with his neck snapped...

Further ahead, Roi and Teala lying on the ground in each other’s arms.

Out of respect I…didn’t look below the waist.

No sign of JC, though.

Weird.

Did he-

...

_I don't want to think about it._

*

I checked for a pulse anyway.

Nothing.

Until-

Something faint.

_How did she…?_

-Never mind.

_Have to get her out of here-_

_I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…_

I had to permanently interrupt their hug.

Pick-

Pick her up-!

Almost _dropped_ her…

…

Do any of these cars still work?

*

Tim flopped to the ground.

Then Matt H.

I nudged them off with my foot, I am-SO SORRY-!!

Tried very hard not to drop her _again_ while reaching through the broken windshield for the door lock.

Took me five minutes to get it to move.

Please don’t let the car horn go off.

_Please don’t let the car horn go off-_

. . .

I exhaled.

Opened the actual door.

Set her down in the front seat.

O…okay…

_-What grabbed my ankle!?_

“H…hey…”

Make that **who.**

*

“JC?”

“Hello there…”

He shimmied out, or at least, he gave it his best effort-!?

“You seem…to know me but I’ve never…met you before”.

“D-don’t strain yourself-“

I hurriedly knelt down to help!

“Thanks…but I got it”.

The ends of his legs trailed off into split-bone.

“What…what did this…”

“No idea”, he admitted, “But it hit us like a truck”.

“I can see that!”

“Lovely bedside manner-“

His laugh reminded me of a wheeze.

“I managed to get myself under here in case our friend had visitors…didn’t know ‘till now if I was the only one or not”.

The only one to…survive…?

“JC…”

“Now I’ve got a question for you”.

“Hold on-“

I slung my arm around his shoulder.

Reached to unlock the backseat door-

Pulled that open-

“Here”.

“Thanks”.

He lay down across both seats with a loud Thump!

“-Are you-!?”

“Fine…”

“You sure!!?”

“Yes”.

“…”

“What”.

“…Are you really su-“

“Dude. I’m fine. Get in yourself, before you collapse”.

H-huh, me-?

“…Just...a minute”.

I went to a certain corpse.

“…You poor thing”.

Tim Jr. still existed in the guy’s pocket.

*

He let me in the Passenger’s side.

“So”.

“So…?”

What would he want to know.

“Tim was right”.

He sighed.

“It _was_ a kind-of suicide mission. Mostly”.

…Where was he going with this?

“You guys were right all along to freak out”.

“They all think you’re dead”.

“I don’t doubt that they do”.

That smile was still there.

“…What’s your question”.

“If we ran into this disaster when we left, and you all know it, then what are _you_ doing?”

Oh…

I swallowed.

“It…it’s…”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to”.

N-No, it’s…just…”

How to explain-

“I got…thrown out”.

“What?”

“Do you…”

Depending on how he answered this…

“Do you think…I’d hurt anyone?”

“Unless you’re some kinda sick weirdo who’s into helping people then turning on them immediately afterwards…no, I don’t”.

“Why not?”

“Why?”

He thought for a minute.

“Hm. A feeling, I guess…you _also_ like to hide from people where you think they can’t see you.

Which _would_ be suspicious except for the look on your face right about now”.

_Ack…_

_And_ double _-ack._

Didn’t need a mirror to know exactly what he meant…

(Why do I always blush like an idiot!?)

“Th-that’s enough for you?”

“Pretty much”.

“How in the-“

“That’s how it is in this town”.

“…”

“Which I’m guessing you’re not from”.

“…I didn’t want to get in your way”.

“In the way of what?”

“Everything…”

“In case you were wondering I couldn’t hear that last part-“

“-It was supposed to be a quick stop, not a stop _over!”_

I rubbed my aching forehead.

“I didn’t mean to be stuck, I didn’t mean to insert myself where I don’t belong-“

“Wait, wha-?“

“You all know each other already, you all have your own things going on, I didn’t want to mess it up, I didn’t want anyone to hate me, I didn’t kill them, I **didn’t-!!!”**

“Whoa! I don’t know what the h* happened, but I’m sure nobody hates you”.

“How do you know!?”

“Well _I_ don’t hate you”.

“But-“

I clammed up.

Couldn’t say he wasn’t there, he didn’t see it, how insensitive would I have to be-

“Like I said, you wouldn’t have helped us if you were really bad”.

“…Even if the victims were innocent people?”

“You normally pegged as the bad guy or something?”

That-

_Hit_ me-

“That’s…why, yes…”

He probably couldn’t hear me again.

“…Maybe they’ll figure out who the true murderer is”.

…He did?

“I can only think of like…one person who’d be interested…”

_If my voice cracks, I swear to-_

“Better than none, right?”

“Yeah…”

_I don’t know._

“In the meantime, we can hot-wire this thing?

Unless there’s a key-“

“A key?”

“In the ignition?”

“Would they be-“

“Sometimes”.

“Uh-“

There was nothing.

“No”.

“”Kay then…back to hot-wiring”.

“What’s that?”

“Making it run with jumper cables under the hood-“

“I…what?”

“Maybe there’s a key behind the mirror?”

I poked it, and a thing fell.

“Oh. Oh that’s great-“

“That’s great?”

“Yeah. Can you drive?”

“Drive?”

_I’ve never driven anything in my life._

“I think it’s a stick-shift”.

“…Does Teala know how it works?”

“I don’t have a clue”.

“…”

“…”

“…We should probably wait for her to wake up”.

“Mm-hm”.

*

So we waited.

And while we waited-

“Can I ask another question?”

“Sure…I guess”.

I could’ve just told him ‘no’.

But I didn’t…

“Are you telepathic?”

“No”.

“Then did we meet somewhere before?”

“…Not…sort-of”.

“Just wondering how you knew our names”.

“Uh…well…”

Is he the type of person who would believe in parallel dimensions?

“It’s a…long story”.

“Cool”.

I could hear him shifting around back there-

“Can I know your name?”

“Mine?”

“Yup”.

“Um…”

…Would he think it was weird?

“Envy…Flora…”

“Cool”.

…I didn’t really understand this guy.

*

“Roi…?”

Oh boy.

“Roi…where the…?”

Her eyelids fluttered.

Then she blinked.

“-Who the h* are you!?”

“You’re up. Nice”.

“JC!!?”

“Teala…you’re gonna panic, aren’t you…”

“WHO IS _THAT!!?”_

Her finger was an inch from my nose.

“Just some kid who’s in the same boat we are”.

“AND WHY ARE YOU NOT CONCERNED!!??”

“Because we’re in a car, safe”.

“How do you-“

“Because you’ve been out for like…forever.

While I was talking to them”.

“…So you’re not a ghost”.

“Nope”.

“…So…”

She stared out the windshield.

At his body…

“So-“

Tears flooded her eyes…

“It…wasn’t…a bad dream…”

…

“No. It wasn’t”.

JC put a hand on her shoulder…

“. . .!”

She cried.

*

Some time passed.

I noticed he was turning paler…

“Uh…are you-“

“I’m good”.

His ‘smile’ had regressed into a grimace.

“What?”

The lady in red-

There were definite flash backs in her mind.

“Are you sure”.

It wasn’t hard for me to pick out the ominous bloodstain.

“…Well…”

“JC. You can't die!!”

She leaped into the back.

“You _can't_ die!!!”

At that moment, someone drove by.

…MatPat?

“That him?”

I almost jumped out of the seat!

“Uh-um-“

“Is it?”

An undertone.

…So he’d seen it too.

“Yes-“

“We have to hurry”.

“Hurry?”

She’d thrown off her coat, and wound it around his legs.

I mean-the bones-

“Yes we can get him help!”

“Who’s driving?” I asked.

“You”.

Oh God.

But I would do it-

“JC…”

“Yeah?”

“…I’m hesitant to offer this, but if things go awry your life may be in danger”.

“You a nurse?”

Although teetering between hope and despair, she gave me a look.

“Why didn’t you ‘offer’ it earlier!?”

“Because it could change him forever”.

“What!!?”

“I accept”.

“WHAT!!?”

“All right”.

My fingers closed around a vine holding me together, and **pulled.**

**Author's Note:**

> Am back after a thousand years. Exams are almost done, and we should be able to get on track to the end from here.


End file.
